Financial transaction cards (or, for this application, simply “cards”) may be credit cards, stored value cards (also known as gift cards, prepaid cards, shopping cards, loyalty or reward cards, and so on) or other objects which function similarly (e.g., an object bearing a barcode, magnetic stripe, RFID chip or other feature recognizable at the point of sale to activate a financial account or subsequently perform or track a transaction). Commonly shaped and sized “cards” have the form factor known as CR80, but CR50, CR79, CR90, and CR200 form factors also are common. Other, non-standard shapes and sizes exist as well. Cards may include a magnetic stripe, barcode or other indicia for identification, data transfer, account activation, verification, or other purposes.
The cards may or may not have value associated with them, i.e., the value may be already in the account (“on the card”) before purchase, or it may be initially added (“loaded”) or subsequently added (“reloaded”) at point of sale or through any other form of data transmission used for electronic commerce.
Cards are often contained within packaging to deter tampering with the card itself. Physical damage to the package provides evidence of attempts to access the card or remove it entirely. However, tamper-evident features present new problems, notably interference with other aspects of the packaging, and increased complexity and manufacturing cost.